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' .P. GRINNELL.

AUTOMATIC FIRE B'XTINGUISHEB.

No, 432,404; Patented July 1'5, 1890.

INK/ENTER $1M 4 M ATTEEIT UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FREDERICK GRINNELL, OF PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND.

AUTOMATIC FIRE E XTINGUISHER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No: 432,404, dated July 15,1890.

Application filed February 19, 1890. Serial No. 31LLO45- (N0 model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, FREDERICK GRINNELL, of Providence, in the county ofProvidence and State of Rhode Island, have invented a certain new anduseful Improvement in Automatic Fire-Extinguishers, of which thefollowing is a specification.

My invention is an improvement in auto matic fire-extinguishers orsprinklers adapted to be attached to a Water-pipe and provided with anoutlet closed by a valve, the valve being held to its seat by a fusiblejoint or other heat-actuated device, so that at a predeterminedtemperature the valve is released and allows the water to discharge andextinguish the fire. It sometimes happens that the valve from one causeor another becomes so stuck to the valve-seat that it cannot be forcedoff by the internal pressure when the operation of the heat-actuateddevice has left itotherwise free to move. I

My invention tends to obviate this difficulty in a very simple manner byproviding means for tripping the valve and forcing it off its seat.

My invention consists in combining with a movable valve-seat a valve anda tripping device, so that the movement that is given to the valve byits seat will cause the former to come in contact with the trippingdevice, or

otherwise so bring it into operation as to force or pry the valve fromits seat.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a sectional view of anautomatic fire-extinguisher embodying one form of my invention andshowing the valve closed. Fig. 2 is a similar view showing the valve inthe act of opening.

The extinguisher consists, essentially, of a base 1, adapted to besecured into a pipefitting, an arch 2, supporting a deflectingplate 3, aheat-actuated device at, with an adjusting-screw 5, a valve 6, and avalve-seat 7. The heat-actuated device 4 may consist of two bevel-endedstruts 8 8, secured together at 9 by fusible solder, the joint beingfurther held bythe two half-sleeves 10, which are also secured togetherand to the strut by fusible solder. The valve (3 is shown seated on aflexible diaphragm valve-seat 7,made of resilient sheet metal. Any othersuitable form of movable valve-seat may be used so long as it is of sucha construction that it will move under the influence of the internalpressure when the valve is released from the restraining-pressure of theheat-actuated device. Such equivalent devices are well-known in the artand need not be described here.

The valve 6 is provided with an arm or project-ion 11, adapted to strikeagainst a lug 12 or other fixed stop on the frame of the extinguisherwhen the valve is thrown outward by the movement of the valve-seat. Theeffect of this is to wrench or pry the valveoff of its seat, and it willbe understood that the whole force of the pressure against the diaphragmis utilized for this purpose. The lug 2 may be so extended as to overlapthe edge of the valve itself, in which case the arm 11 would beunnecessary, and it is very evident that many other varieties of theinvention might be practiced. I wish it therefore to be understood thatI do not bind myself to the specific means shown for tripping the valve,as any other suitable devices accomplishing the same result insubstantially the same way would be within the scope of my invention.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. An automatic fire-extinguisher having a valve, a movable valve-seat,and a heatactuated device for restraining the movement of the valve andthe valve-seat until the occurrence of a fire, combined with a trippingdevice for forcing the valve from its seat, said tripping device beingbrought into action by the movement of the valveseat, substantially asand for the purpose set forth.

2. The combination, in an automatic fireextinguisher, of the valve and amovable valve-seat, with a fixed stop adapted to engage with the valvewhen the latter is forced out by the movement of the valve-seat.

The combination, in an automatic fire-extinguisher, of the fixed stop,the flexible valveseat, and a valve having a projecting arm adapted toengage with the fixed stop when the valve is forced outward by themovement of the flexible valve-seat, substantially as described.

FREDERICK GRINNELL.

Witnesses:

FREDERICK W. HARTWELL, WM. L. PHILLIPS.

